Tag Archives: Celiac research

Editor’s note: The study below, investigating whether the degree of villous atrophy (intestinal damage) correlates with the symptoms that are presented, found they do not. Therefore, more research is needed to find out why symptoms do not correlate with the degree of intestinal damage.

The pathologic range of villous atrophy seen on small intestinal biopsies ranges from severe (total villous atrophy and subtotal villous atrophy) to milder, partial villous atrophy. Read More »

May is National Celiac Disease Awareness Month, so it seems appropriate to share some medical facts about this autoimmune disease that just might shock you.

These facts come from Dr. Tom O’Bryan who is is a nationally recognized speaker and workshop leader specializing in gluten sensitivity and celiac disease. Dr. O’Bryan’s specialty is in teaching the many manifestations of gluten sensitivity and celiac disease as they occur inside and outside of the Read More »

Judging by their symptoms, people with celiac disease could have food poisoning, depression, or iron deficiency. As a result, doctors often have trouble diagnosing the serious immune disorder. To develop a better test for the disease, researchers have made a device that can detect nanograms of gluten antibodies, the hallmarks of celiac disease, in human Read More »

In this study, researchers investigating the absorption of copper in untreated patients who had damage to their duodenum found anemia in 3 out of 10 of these patients that was due to copper deficiency. They gave all the study subjects a solution of copper to drink that was equal to a daily dose then tested their blood level. Read More »

Editor’s note: This important study demonstrated that short chain fatty acid (SCFA) levels in stool samples were abnormal in participating children with celiac disease, with and without treatment with gluten-free diet. SCFAs are healthy energy byproducts produced by microflora (beneficial organisms) in the colon during fermentation of undigested carbohydrates arriving from the small intestine. SCFAs nourish the colonocytes, cells that line the colon, to maintain normal function. They also help absorb salts and water from stool.

“Gut Microflora Associated Characteristics in Children with Celiac Disease”

According to the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearing House, a study published in the December 2008 issue of the Journal of Insurance Medicine reports that researchers from Columbia University and CIGNA HealthCare found that diagnosis of celiac disease substantially reduces subsequent health care costs.

The research group, led by Peter Green, M.D., a renowned authority in celiac disease from Columbia University, looked at medical records for 10.2 million CIGNA managed care members. Read More »

Scientists who last year identified a new genetic risk factor for coeliac disease, have, following continued research, discovered an additional seven gene regions implicated in causing the condition. The team, lead by David van Heel, Professor of Gastrointestinal Genetics at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, have further demonstrated that of the nine coeliac gene regions now know, four of these are also predisposing factors for type 1 diabetes. Their research sheds light not only on the nature of coeliac disease, but on the common origins of both diseases. It is published online today (2 March 2008) in Nature Genetics. Read More »

ScienceDaily (July 22, 2010) — Walter and Eliza Hall Institute scientists have identified the three protein fragments that make gluten — the main protein in wheat, rye and barley — toxic to people with coeliac disease.

Professor Bob Anderson from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, Australia, has identified the three protein fragments that make gluten -- the main protein in wheat, rye and barley -- toxic to people with celiac disease. (Credit: Czesia Markiewicz, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute)

Their discovery opens the way for a new generation of diagnostics, treatments, prevention strategies and food tests for the millions of people worldwide with coeliac disease.

When people with coeliac disease eat products containing gluten their body’s immune response is switched on and the lining of the small intestine is damaged, hampering their ability to absorb nutrients. The disease is currently treated by permanently removing gluten from the patient’s diet.

Dr Bob Anderson, head of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute’s coeliac disease research laboratory, said it had been 60 years since gluten was discovered to be the environmental cause of coeliac disease.

“In the years since, the holy grail in coeliac disease research has been to identify the toxic peptide components of gluten; and that’s what we’ve done,” Dr Anderson said.

The research, done in collaboration with Dr Jason Tye-Din, Dr James Dromey, Dr Stuart Mannering, Dr Jessica Stewart and Dr Tim Beissbarth from the institute as well as Professor Jamie Rossjohn at Monash University and Professor Jim McCluskey at the University of Melbourne, is published in the journalScience Translational Medicine.

Dr. Bob Anderson & John Libonati at an NFCA-sponsored event April 30, 2009 in Philadelphia, USA where Dr. Anderson described his research and vaccine.

The study was started by Professor Anderson nine years ago and has involved researchers in Australia and the UK as well as more than 200 coeliac disease patients.

The patients, recruited through the Coeliac Society of Victoria and the Coeliac Clinic at John Radcliffe Hospital, UK, ate bread, rye muffins or boiled barley. Six days later, blood samples were taken to measure the strength of the patients’ immune responses to 2700 different gluten fragments. The responses identified 90 fragments as causing some level of immune reaction, but three gluten fragments (peptides) were revealed as being particularly toxic.

“These three components account for the majority of the immune response to gluten that is observed in people with coeliac disease,” Dr Anderson said. Read More »

The Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University is starting a research study to assess the knowledge of chefs and the general public about celiac disease. They are also looking at people who follow the gluten-free diet (because of celiac disease or gluten sensitivity) and whether their quality of life with respect to restaurant eating is affected because of the diet.

The event began with a presentation of the celiac Iceberg Award to the founder of the Center, Stefano Guandalini, MD., with the help of Amy Lukas, one of the very first celiac patients in the clinic. This was followed by silent and live auction events and unlimited dinning possibilities. Read More »